Monday, 6 December 2010

Burritos and the Grid.

I haven't posted for a while (again). This is mainly because I've been writing reviews on Qype.co.uk instead of on my blog (where nobody reads it anyway).

But I recently found another burrito blogger at londonburrito.com who largely comes to the same conclusions as me. Awesome :D

I think I should try and organise a burrito festival of some kind. Battle of the burritos, if you will...

Last week I had a Benito's Hat that was an epic fail. It was almost as bad as my recent Mexicali burrito, which was awful. I am not sure what went wrong, but it's put me off going there for a while. Damn shame :(

But not too much of a shame, for recently a new burrito place has opened near work (yes, another one). It's called Adobo, and I tried it this afternoon. Mark, one of the owners, seems very keen to hear what people think. He's had some good feedback, and he's had some constructive criticism from me too. Here's pretty much what Jason and I told him:

0. The guacamole is excellent and deserves praise. At 70p I think they have the price right too (even if I still think it should be free on principle).1. My meat (chicken) was a bit dry. I suspect that this is because they don't have the same level of customer throughput as other places, due to having just opened. Jason's (beef) was better.2. The staff could do with some training on how to wrap a burrito. It was a bit too wide and could be packed tighter. It would be fantastic if they were genuine burrito lovers, which the staff at Chipotle appear to be.3. The rice was slightly undercooked. Note here that although I thought this was a negative, Jason really liked it.4. They could do with having some sauces available to sprinkle over the burritos. Mark informed me that they would be getting bottles of cholula, and that Tabasco sauces are insanely expensive.5. There should be a 'queue here' sign next to the counter. The reason for this is that the counter takes up too much space, and the queue starts from the wrong end. This will be problematic for them in the summer when the queue stretches outside the shop, which it will, even if they don't improve. Appreciate that there's not a lot they can do about this due to the layout of the restaurant...6. The lettuce didn't appear to be as fresh as the likes of Chilango, Chipotle and Benito's.

Overall I liked the place, but the burrito itself could do with improvement. More succulent meat, slightly more potent chili sauce (I had medium but it tasted bland to me) and better rice would make Adobo fantastic. Actually the availability of adobo sauce to sprinkle would be nice too.The fact that they intend to start serving gourmet coffee using the same beans as those used by Taylor Street Baristas is also very good news. I wish them every success in their venture.

Here is my current ranking:

1. Chilango - Chill and go :)2. Chipotle - If BMW made Burritos, they would be Chipotles.3. Adobo - See review above3. Benito's Hat - Down from rank 1 after my recent Burrito catastrophe at the Covent Garden branch.5. Tortilla - They are rapidly expanding so they must be doing something right!6. Daddy Donkey - Sadly no longer the daddy of donkeys.6. El Burrito - Given that this place is run by Mestizo, it should be much higher in the list!8. Mas Burritos - The problem with these is that they aren't mas. They are really stingy on fillings :(9. 1910 Mexican Kitchen10. Burro Burrito - Tastes like a Staedtler eraser.11. Mexicali - I didn't think it was possible to make a burrito worse than 1910, but Mexicali and Burro Burrito both manage it, and then some.

Oh and I saw TRON Legacy on Saturday at the Empire Leicester Square. OMG! It was fantastic! Can't wait for the official release so I can go and see it again! The Empire 3D system (Dolby Digital 3D) is leagues ahead of the regular RealD 3D System most cinemas have. Great stuff :)